19 March 2012

At the heart of all software is source code—the programs that perform basic functions. With open source software, this code is protected by a special license that ensures everyone has access to that code. That means no one company can fully own it. Freedom means choice. Choice means power.

That's why we believe open source is inevitable. It returns control to the customer. You can see the code, change it, learn from it. Bugs are quickly found and quickly fixed. And when customers don't like how one vendor is serving them, they can choose another without overhauling their infrastructure. No more technology lock-in. No more monopolies.

We believe the open source model builds higher quality, more secure, more easily integrated software. And it does it at a vastly accelerated pace--and often at a lower cost.

Red Hat can help you do more with less

Open source spans platforms, middleware, applications. From data center to desktop. We help enterprises take full advantage of the capability and cost savings of open source—letting them do more with the technology they already have.

The subscription model allows Red Hat to have a mutually beneficial, cyclical relationship with customers:

First, we deliver new technology as soon as it's available.

Then we provide unlimited support at no additional cost.

And finally, the feedback we get from regularly working with you helps us deliver better technology tomorrow.

The benefits of choosing Red Hat

Red Hat is a leading contributor to the development of open source software. In fact, as noted by a couple of recent surveys, Red Hat is the leading corporate contributor to the most important open source project of all, the Linux kernel. Because Red Hat is the largest corporate contributor to the kernel, and able to influence features and strategy, this is an area where Red Hat is well-positioned.

A huge ecosystem of hardware and software partners offer both services and certified solutions, in collaboration with the industry leader. This powerful combination provides:

Open source technologies that are rigorously tested and matured through the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora project

With each major version, stable application interfaces and 7 years of product support

A homogeneous client/server product family that enables seamless interoperation of systems from the laptop to the data-center to the mainframe. Plus, excellent interoperability with existing UnixTM and Microsoft® Windows® deployments

10 Reasons – Why Red Hat

We put our value where your money is: Our technology is delivered via subscription. So you pay for what's most important to you. Service. Software that works. And we have to keep our promises every day.

It starts with transparency: The development process is open. The technology is open. There are no secrets, no surprises, no lock-in.

We can help you do more with less: We help enterprises gain full advantage of the capability and efficiency of open source. Especially when budgets are tight. We can help you cut costs and do more with the technology you already have.

Open source makes better software faster: Our technology is built in collaboration with a rapidly growing worldwide community. The number of open source projects increased from 16,000 in 2001 to 150,000 in 2007. And when it comes to Linux, Red Hat is the largest contributor.

Our development model is different: We collaborate with the open source community to develop technology that makes its way into Fedora and JBoss.org projects. This technology makes its way into Red Hat® Enterprise Linux and JBoss® Enterprise Middleware. This innovation returns to the community. The cycle is continuous.

Which is why we work to keep knowledge open: Transparency. Collaboration. The free exchange of knowledge and ideas. Open source is more than a development model, it's who we are.

We offer complete solutions: Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the foundation. JBoss Enterprise Middleware. And the training and services to manage it all.

With the power of a broad ecosystem: We collaborate with our partners to deliver certified hardware and software that you can trust.

The capabilities of a global provider: We have nearly 60 offices in 28 countries. Our service is there when and where you need it, delivered by open source, Linux, and JBoss experts.

Just ask our customers: Some of the world's largest organizations rely on Red Hat every day. Especially in the most demanding environments like the New York Stock Exchange.

Carve Out Costs

Carving out costs? Red Hat can help. In today's high-pressure economic environment, spending wisely on IT has become a necessity. The explosion of open source deployments over the past few years is clear proof of what customers who have migrated to open source have experienced: Dramatic cost savings combined with the flexibility to meet today's rapidly changing business requirements. Open source solutions from Red Hat have shown that standards-based, open source software delivered via subscription offers customers exceptional value, performance, and service. All without sacrificing quality or stability.

Value of a Subscription

The subscription model allows Red Hat to create a mutually beneficial relationship with our customers. The feedback we receive from regularly working with you helps us deliver better technology tomorrow. You receive ongoing return from your investment.

For each system you receive:

Product Access: Access both source and binary code and the accompanying documentation.

Certifications: Deploy with the confidence, of knowing we’ve made sure your applications and hardware are fully certified by leading Red Hat OEM and ISV partners.

Upgrades: Upgrade to new versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux released during the lifetime of your subscription.

Flexibility: Deploy any version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and move your subscription as needed. Subscriptions are not version-specific. With the exception of mainframe systems, subscriptions are not architecture-specific.

Support: Take advantage of multiple support services that provide unlimited incidents and coverage up to 24x7 with 1-hour response time.

Long-Term Stability: Gain peace of mind knowing your applications will have a stable platform. User-mode and primary kernel-mode application interfaces for each Enterprise Linux release are guaranteed to be stable for the life of the product.

When the New York Stock Exchange needed an operating system to handle its innumerable amount of worldwide transactions, it didn’t turn to Microsoft. No, that honor went to Red Hat.

“The New York Stock Exchange would never run on Windows,” CEO and President Jim Whitehurst told Cramer Wednesday. “It crashes too often.”

Red Hat [RHT 50.64 -0.09 (-0.18%)] is an open-source software company that focus on enterprise solutions for businesses. In fact, it’s Red Hat’s proprietary Linux system that “never crashes,” Whitehurst said. A community of developers creates the software, and Red Hat gets it on the cheap. That way the company can charge its clients much less than competitors but still report the highest cash margins in the industry.

Big bad rivals like Microsoft [MSFT 32.60 -0.25 (-0.76%)] and Oracle[ORCL 29.74 -0.32 (-1.06%)] actually have a disadvantage when it comes to their respective enterprise operating systems – Red Hat’s main business – they don’t have as large a base of certified hardware and software that’s competitive with their product. Red Hat does. As Whitehurst pointed out, without that base, “What’s the value of the operating system?”

Whitehurst even went so far as to say Oracle really wasn’t a competitor. He quoted that company’s chief technology officer as saying, “There should be one Linux distribution and that should be Red Hat.” Whitehurst said that one of the primary functions of Red Hat is for running Oracle databases on top of it.

“So I see Oracle as more of a partner than as a competitor,” he said.

“Think about this one,” Cramer said. “Do some homework. I think Red hat is, despite its PE multiple, inexpensive given that growth rate.”